United States v. Wright

635 F. App'x 162
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedMay 27, 2015
DocketNos. 13-3803, 13-3814, 13-3883, 13-4019, 13-4081, 13-4086
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 635 F. App'x 162 (United States v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Wright, 635 F. App'x 162 (6th Cir. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

SUHRHEINRICH, Circuit Judge.

Defendants-Appellants Darryl Colbert, Dale Colbert, Jeremy Duncan, Darin Wright, Wesley Black, and Antowan Logan (collectively, “Defendants”) appeal the denial of their motions to suppress evidence derived from a series of wiretaps. Additionally, Antowan Logan challenges the validity of his guilty plea. For the following reasons, we AFFIRM the judgment of the lower court.

BACKGROUND

Defendants’ prosecution stemmed from a federal drug trafficking investigation in Akron, Ohio. Initially, the principal targets of that investigation were Dante Branch and Louis Harmon, known Akron area drug traffickers.1 In order to aid its investigation, the United States sought at various times six Title III orders authorizing the interception of wire communications to and from cellular telephones used by individuals suspected of trafficking drugs:

(1) The December 7, 2011 Title III Application (“Application # 1”), which sought the interception of calls to and from a telephone used by Harmon.
(2) The January 5, 2012 Title III Application (“Application # 2”), which sought to extend the previous wiretap of Harmon’s telephone.
(3) The January 20, 2012 Title III Application (“Application # 3”), which sought the interception of calls to and from a telephone used by Branch, as well as the interception of calls to and from a new telephone used by Harmon.
(4) The February 18, 2012 Title III Application (“Application # 4”), which sought to extend the wiretap of Branch’s telephone, and also sought the interception of calls to and from two telephones used by Darryl Colbert.
(5) The March 19, 2012 Title III Application (“Application # 5”), which sought to extend the wiretap of Branch’s telephone, and also sought the interception of calls to and from a telephone used by Dale Colbert, a new telephone used by Branch, and a telephone used by Derrick Watson.2
(6) The May 3, 2012 Title III Application (“Application # 6”), which sought to extend the initial wiretap of Branch’s telephone, and also sought the interception of calls to and from a telephone used by Jeremy Duncan and a new telephone used by Dale Colbert.

In support of each wiretap application, FBI Special Agent Douglas Porrini (“SA Porrini”) provided an affidavit stating that there was probable, cause to believe the interceptions would reveal evidence of drug trafficking and that the interceptions were necessary to achieve the objectives of the investigation. The issuing district judge approved each application.

Based on traditional investigative techniques, such as physical surveillance and the use of confidential sources, and conversations intercepted through the wiretaps, investigators learned that Branch, a major cocaine and marijuana distributor in the Akron area, had two drug sources — one [165]*165for cocaine and another for marijuana.3 His source of cocaine was a drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) operated out of California by twin brothers Darryl and Dale Colbert (“the Colbert DTO”). The Colbert brothers would hide cocaine inside engine blocks and then ship them to various locations in the Akron area. One of the brothers would then travel to Ohio in order to distribute the cocaine to Branch, as well as to local drug dealers Darin Wright, Wesley Black, and Antowan Logan.

Investigators further discovered that Branch’s source of marijuana was another California DTO, run by Anthony Treggs (“the Treggs DTO”). The Treggs DTO would transport marijuana to Ohio through a semi-tractor trailer driven by Jeremy Duncan. Branch acquired that marijuana and sold it to Black. However, law enforcement learned that the Colbert DTO was distributing marijuana in the Akron area as well. Ultimately, investigators determined that the Colbert DTO was responsible for distributing over 100 kilograms of cocaine and hundreds of pounds of marijuana within the Akron area, and the Treggs DTO was responsible for distributing' truckloads of marijuana within that region.

On June 7, 2012, a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio indicted 12 individuals, including the Colbert brothers, Duncan, Wright, and Black, principally for their roles in a series of drug conspiracies, On September 26, 2012, a superseding indictment added Logan and one other individual.4

Defendants each filed motions to suppress evidence derived from the wiretaps. The district court denied all of the motions. Defendants subsequently entered conditional guilty pleas to various drug trafficking offenses. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

I. Suppression Motions

When evaluating a district court’s denial of a motion to suppress evidence derived from a wiretap, we review findings of fact for clear error and questions of law de novo. United States v. Rice, 478 F.3d 704, 709 (6th Cir.2007) (citing United States v. Stewart, 306 F.3d 295, 304 (6th Cir.2002)). Moreover, the issuing judge’s determination is entitled to “great deference.” United States v. Corvado, 227 F.3d 528, 539 (6th Cir.2000). '

A. Darryl Colbert

1. Necessity

Darryl Colbert challenges Application # 3 through Application # 6, alleging that these applications did not comply with the wiretap statute’s “necessity” requirement.

We review the issuing judge’s finding of necessity for an abuse of discretion. See Corvado, 227 F.3d at 539; see also United States v. Canales Gomez, 358 F.3d 1221, 1225 (9th Cir.2004) (“The issuing judge’s decision that the wiretap was necessary is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard.”).

Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2522, governs the legal require[166]*166ments for wiretaps. The statute requires that “[e]ach application for an order authorizing or approving the interception of a wire ... communication” include “a full and complete statement as to whether or not other investigative procedures have been tried and failed or why they reasonably appear to be unlikely to succeed if tried or to be too dangerous.” 18 U.S.C. § 2518(l)(c). This “necessity” requirement is designed “to assure that wiretapping is not resorted to in situations where traditional investigative techniques would suffice to expose the crime” and to prevent wiretapping from being “routinely employed as the initial step in criminal investigation.” United States v. Landmesser, 553 F.2d 17, 19-20 (6th Cir.1977) (citations omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
635 F. App'x 162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wright-ca6-2015.